A woman who stole $209.75 worth of clothes from Kmart despite having $550 cash in her bra, was sentenced to jail on Monday.
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Nikeisha Janis McKellar, 28, of Jubilee Avenue, was already in custody serving a sentence for another matter, when she appeared before magistrate David Day via an audio visual link.
According to police, McKellar had been seen entering Kmart in the afternoon on May 29 when she appeared to be attempting to exit the store without being seen by staff.
Her behaviour attracted more attention and she paid for some items and left the shop.
However, she then returned to the store and tore tags of several items of clothing and placed them into a black bag.
She then stuffed bras into her own bra and put a pair of black pants down the front of her trousers.
Police were waiting for her when she left the shop and when she was told she would be searched she offered to pay for the items and produced the $550 in cash from her bra.
The stolen items included camisole tops, bras, jewellery, a t-shirt, several pairs of tights, a pink jacket, a brown zip-up jacket, shoes and a black tote bag.
She initially gave confusing information about her identity leading police to think she was a family member but her identity was confirmed by her fingerprints.
McKellar was also wanted on two outstanding warrants at the time of her arrest.
McKellar told her solicitor Bridget Byrne that she did not remember stealing the items and was sorry for her actions.
Miss Byrne said McKellar experienced trauma as a child and turned to drug use, including heroin.
"She started using illicit substances from the age of nine when she started using cannabis," Ms Byrne said.
"She grew up in a household where drugs were quite prevalent."
Ms Byrne said McKellar was also deeply affected by the death of a young family member when she was still a child.
Mr Day said McKellar had a bad record for stealing from shops and for violence but he took her traumatic upbringing into account when he gave her a seven-month jail sentence with a three-month non-parole period that started on Monday.
She could be eligible for supervised parole on October 19 and Mr Day said she will require drug rehabilitation in the community.
The sentence adds close to a month to what would have been McKellar's release date.
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